‘Kidnapping’ of Mirza group councillor sparks tension

BADIN: A large number of women belonging to the Sheedi community of Badin held a demonstration outside the Tando Bago Press Club on Thursday against the alleged kidnapping of a councillor, Mohammed Luqman Sheedi, ahead of the election for the chairman of the town committee.

Mr Sheedi was fielded by the group lead by estranged Pakistan Peoples Party leader and former home minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza and, according to his community, he went missing soon after signing as proposer/seconder the nomination papers of Shaher Bano and Ishu Lohana for a contest on reserved seats of the Tando Bago town committee last week.

Ms Bano, speaking to the protesters and media, urged the election commission to take notice of the councillor’s mysterious disappearance. She apprehended that he might have been kidnapped at the behest of the rival PPP.

Dr Mirza’s close aide Dilber Sindhi, who is the candidate for the chairmanship of the town committee, alleged that PPP MNA Kamal Khan Chang and Haji Sain Bukhsh Jamali were involved in the kidnapping. However, his rival PPP candidate, Khan Sahib Jamali, told Dawn, when contacted for his comment, that Mr Luqman had joined the PPP.

Mr Luqman’s disappearance has caused considerable political tension in Tando Bago as Dr Mirza’s group has won the town committee’s four of the six wards. The fifth one was won by Raja Sufi of the Pakistan Muslim League-F while the election for the sixth ward is yet to be held.